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Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith

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Category Archives: Writing

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Are You Ready for AI Authors?

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on July 28, 2022 by Michael D. SmithJune 19, 2023

This is not really a review of How to Market a Book: Overperform in a Crowded Market by Richard Fayet, free on Kindle, but the book is a useful guide and it did inspire further thoughts on something I’d been … Continue reading →

Posted in AI, Dystopia, Essays, Marketing, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writing, Writing Process | Leave a reply

Asylum and Mirage: The Draft 2 Milestone

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on June 17, 2022 by Michael D. SmithJune 17, 2022

A naïve and disconnected artist gives a party to celebrate his success, only to find himself drafted that same night into a mindless war against the Reunion, an apparently unstoppable army of hallucinatory consciousness. I’ve finished Draft 2 and closed … Continue reading →

Posted in Asylum and Mirage, Caspra Coronae, Character Images, Dystopia, Literary, Novels, Writing, Writing Process | Leave a reply

Progress: Asylum and Mirage and the Title Change

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on April 25, 2022 by Michael D. SmithApril 25, 2022

Caspra Coronae is now, halfway through its second draft, Asylum and Mirage. Hanging the essence of a novel on its title is important, and while Caspra Coronae has a lovely sound, it doesn’t convey anything about this novel, and would … Continue reading →

Posted in Asylum and Mirage, Caspra Coronae, Dystopia, Novels, Writing, Writing Process | 1 Reply

Walter’s Farewell Soliloquy–to Himself and to Draft 1 Caspra Coronae

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on February 26, 2022 by Michael D. SmithJune 17, 2022

When I recently re-interviewed the main characters of Caspra Coronae, it became obvious to all of us that Walter’s evil machinations and his over-the-top, humiliating death were merely dull plot. And that in fact the entire Part 2 of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Asylum and Mirage, Caspra Coronae, Dystopia, Interviews, Novels, Writing, Writing Process | Leave a reply

The Damage Patrol Quartet: Four Stories

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on December 23, 2021 by Michael D. SmithDecember 23, 2021

A feckless young architect falls in with a sixteen-year-old’s dubious trucking venture. Drug-addled Randy bemoans his fate as a slave employee in New Fascist Australia. An archeologist arrives on a tiny artificial gravity platform to give a scholarly lecture to … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Comedy, Dreams, Dystopia, Literary, Perpetual Starlit Night, Science Fiction, Sortmind, Stories, The Damage Patrol Quartet, Twisted Tails, Writing, Zarreich | Leave a reply

A Writing Biography, Part IV: The Perfect Cube and Beyond

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on November 2, 2021 by Michael D. SmithAugust 4, 2023

Recapping Part III as the Author Seeks Sympathy for How Terribly Difficult This Post Has Been In rereading Writing Biographies I-III I’m struck by how they stand outside my usual self-description. I remember all that history, but it was as … Continue reading →

Posted in A Writing Biography, Akard Drearstone, Dreams, Early Writing, Novels, Plays, Sortmind, Stories, Wiess Cracks, Writing, Writing Process | 1 Reply

Interview with the Burlcron/Mercer/Singletree

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on August 3, 2021 by Michael D. SmithJune 17, 2022

As recorded May 30, 2021 at Smith Writing Studios. Alfred Moid Burlcron, a major character in my novel The Soul Institute, emerged as a recurring archetype as I prepared for the novel Caspra Coronae. I interviewed him just after speaking … Continue reading →

Posted in Asylum and Mirage, Caspra Coronae, Character Images, Dystopia, Interviews, Novels, The Soul Institute, Writing, Writing Process | 1 Reply

Caspra Coronae Draft One Blast-Off

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on July 3, 2021 by Michael D. SmithDecember 25, 2024

What is This Thing? There were no longer any issues blocking the fiction, and I began Caspra Coronae on June 24. I finally realized that although my plans are incomplete, whatever is unresolved is just going to have to come … Continue reading →

Posted in Asylum and Mirage, Black Comedy, Caspra Coronae, Character Images, Dystopia, Interviews, Literary, Novels, Tarot Cards, Writing, Writing Process | 2 Replies

The Selector

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on June 10, 2021 by Michael D. SmithJune 10, 2021

It was eight o’clock. All was well, except that the Animals had somehow crept into the Selector Box and short-circuited the entire Darwin Building. As the Selector, it was my duty to investigate. Yet, at eight o’clock, I’d just finished … Continue reading →

Posted in Dreams, Stories, Writing | 1 Reply

The Balloon Ship Interviews: Arrogant, Desperate Characters Audition for the Role of a Lifetime

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on April 6, 2021 by Michael D. SmithApril 6, 2021

In developing Balloon Ship Armageddon, the seventh and final Jack Commer, Supreme Commander adventure, I interviewed twelve characters from the previous six books, wanting to know what motivations and energies they could bring to the project. Each character got a … Continue reading →

Posted in Balloon Ship Armageddon, Character Images, Interviews, Jack Commer, Novels, Science Fiction, Sortmind Press, Writing, Writing Process | 1 Reply

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Recent Posts

  • Introducing The Benign Incursion
  • Jack Commer, Supreme Commander – The Complete Series Omnibus
  • A Blog Post from February 13, 1976
  • A Writing Biography, Part VIII: The Exoskeleton, Archiving, Publishing, The Blog, and the Long Novels, 2011-2023
  • The Major 2024 Book Energies
  • A Writing Biography, Part VII: Organization, Lost Energies, New Novels, Publishing, 1994-2011
  • Zarreich – Publication at Last
  • The Sortmind Draft One Project
  • Dreams Used in Zarreich
  • Zarreich – The Draft Covers

Links

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Archives

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Recent Comments

  • Introducing The Benign Incursion – Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith on The Unknown Ending for The Martian Marauders
  • Jack Commer, Supreme Commander – The Complete Series Omnibus – Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith on Trip to Mars in Paperback
  • Jack Commer, Supreme Commander – The Complete Series Omnibus – Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith on The First Childhood Appearance of Jack Commer, September 19, 1962
  • Jack Commer, Supreme Commander – The Complete Series Omnibus – Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith on The Irregular Origin of The Martian Marauders
  • Jack Commer, Supreme Commander – The Complete Series Omnibus – Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith on The UR Jack Commer: A Look at the Childhood Beginnings of the Commer Saga

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Michael's books

Why Meditate: Working with Thoughts and Emotions
4 of 5 stars
Why Meditate: Working with Thoughts and Emotions
by Matthieu Ricard
WordPress Web Design for Dummies
4 of 5 stars
WordPress Web Design for Dummies
by Lisa Sabin-Wilson
Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End...
5 of 5 stars
Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End...
by Philip Plait
Using Joomla!
3 of 5 stars
Using Joomla!
by Ron Severdia
Serpent's Tooth
5 of 5 stars
Serpent's Tooth
by Toni V. Sweeney
On a cruise Melissa bonds with an older man, Travis, who turns out to be a famous celebrity in hiding from a once successful life. But by degrees we become aware that his enormous success came at the price of bonding with demonic forces...

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